Dice
by LazyAstro
Summary: "There is no such thing as a pokerface when playing with me, L. Choose your game wisely." After losing a sister Dice tracks down the top three detectives in order to ease the boredom and loneliness she has struggled with for the past three years.
1. Chapter 1

So, I'm writing out this thing thats been in my head for a while. Let me know what you think, it's up to 10k so far. Definitely looking for a Beta.

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><p>"Hello, L."<p>

Static could be heard from a phone that had not been in his possession before today. The voice that spoke was high-pitched, but deformed to be unrecognizable.

The black haired man, crouched on his sofa, held the curious phone with two fingers to his ear. It had gone off suddenly, tucked away in a bag that he had brought to the university. No number was displayed on the screen.

"Who is this," He spoke softly, but it wasn't really a question.

"You don't know?" The mechanical voice cried out in mock offense, "You stab me deeply, L."

"Am I supposed to?" He appeared to sound disinterested, but an effort had to be made. If one person could so easily get a hold of him, knew his identity... _Kira?_

"My name," The voice breathed, excitedly,"Is Dice. I like to play games."

_Dice_. "Never heard of you," L sighed, "What is it, that you want?"

"Play with me, L," The voice purred. "I need some entertainment, play a game with me."

"What game?"

"You'll find out. You could earn a reward, if you win."

"What if I lose?"

"Are you planning on losing? You do seem to have a knack for it today."

Were they talking about the tennis match? L didn't speak, but waited for the voice to continue.

"If you lose, you'll have to remember," The voice spoke cryptically, "But if you do, you will have already won."

The static crackle stopped. Whoever was on the other side had hung up the phone, leaving the lonely detective with a phone pressed harder to his ear than he had initially noticed. He set the phone down on the desk after a short inspection. There was nothing on it.

The person had called themselves Dice. His mind wandered to a white haired boy, somewhere in England, but dismissed the thought almost immediately.

Was it even a male? The manner of speaking suggested double entendre. Though such language was usually a typical male quality, females couldn't be ruled out, seeing as these words were specifically directed to L himself. They knew who he was, up to a certain extent.

L wasn't truly worried. This person -or persons, possibly- could not know much more than him being a detective, and honestly that wasn't difficult to figure out. His name, his letter, was displayed all over Tokyo. However, he could hardly call himself a top detective if a random person was able to find him.

This person told him, if he lost he would have to remember, but if he would remember then he would win.

So the objective was to find a person that he had once known or heard of.

Who could possibly go through the trouble, just because just L did not hold on to his memory? It was unlike him to forget, though.

If L had forgotten, who else had? Perhaps this person was just really not memorable, or good at being invisible. Maybe they didn't want to be invisible.

They were trying to get his attention, everyone's. A stalker?

_Remember them, _find_ them, then I'll win. _L thought idly.

So, hide and seek.

They had managed to drop the phone in bag today without him noticing. Anyone who would have access to his bag today must have been at the tennis field. The only place he had left it unattended. It had merely contained a change of clothes, nothing important. But it was foolish to assume nothing happened to it.

Luckily it was just a phone. This time.

L extended one leg and stretched it before getting up to pace the room.

"Remember," He muttered, thumb to his lips.

Someone from his past then. This person couldn't possibly assume that L would recognize any stranger he had interacted with, people on the street, salesmen, hotel owners... It had to be a person that had, used to have, should have had, a certain impact on the detective.

He slowed his pace near the monitors, and sat down on the couch in the same crouch position. "Watari," He called out.

A black 'W' flickered on one of the screens to his right. "Can I help you?" The voice of an older sounding man, pleasant, sounded through the room.

"Please prepare a list for me of all the inhabitants of the Wammy house."

"May I ask why?"

"I think someone is trying to get in touch with me."

Watari said nothing more, and the letter faded, the screen back to black.

His old home in England would seem the best guess. And they assumed L would be able to figure out all of the clues given in their short phone call.

Games, games... Was it just about the hide and seek? Or about the tennis too, where they had most likely left their phone? They did make a reference to him losing. L hated to lose. It seemed a little bit far sought, but maybe they wanted L to actually go out and look, instead of his usual reasoning-from-a-safe-distance technique.

Of course with Kira around maintaining a safe distance didn't matter.

L had decided that the best course of action was to investigate the tennis court tomorrow. That would leave his evening free to sleep for an hour or two and continue with Kira, who was still the bigger threat.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning eventually came. Watari had made a list of all occupants that were at Wammy in the same time period as L, The list wasn't particularly long, but L couldn't put a face to half of the names. He crossed off the names of people currently under supervision, and those who had steady jobs and a new family.

There were still a lot of names on the list: Peutrich Gavia de Range, Miroh Culhwil, Elisabeti Titri Norwood, Mareike Dion...

Whoever this Dice was had to be a lonely person.

L called Watari again, requesting the elaborate files of each of these people.

He had perhaps overestimated his memory. But that did not matter. This morning he would go back to the court, and have a look around.

Students were already wandering around in groups, idly chatting about their day.

L sat on a bench and observed, for a while. The crowd became thicker, everyone was trying to spend their final minutes before class out in what could very well be the last warm morning of the year.

The tennis court got some attention this morning. People were swarming towards it, pointing and wondering out loud what had happened.

L wasn't aware anything had happened since yesterday. He didn't want to draw attention to himself so he waited for more people. Now that something seemed to be going on he regretted waiting.

Students were pushing, standing on their toes, to try and see what was going on. L got up and walked over to the crowd, hoping to pick up what was going on.

He didn't have to wait very long for the mass of students to slim down, the morning classes were starting and people were losing interest. So L pushed forward.

On the court where he had lost a tennis match the day before were two big squares, painted in messy white lines. Both squares had two dots painted in them.

It looked like the face of a set of dice.

L had seen enough. He left the school grounds. Watari was still waiting for him around the corner in the car.

Again he was confronted with dice, a set of two. They had been placed on the roof of the car , a pair of small white ivory dice.

L looked around, but there was no one in sight. He assumed Watari hadn't seen anything or anyone near the car, or he would have signaled him by now.

One of the dice showed one eye, the other showed three. He picked them up carefully, and weighed them in the palm of his hand. They were loaded, to show these numbers specifically.

He got in the car and checked if Watari had seen anything in the time L had been away. The old man had seemed surprised someone had been able to get near the car and place something on it without him noticing. But there had been students passing, someone could have blended in.

The list of the remaining names was still on the backseat, where L had left them. He had committed the remaining names to memory.

But now there was a bigger stack of folders neatly sitting next to it. They were the individual files that L had requested before.

On the way back to the hotel L read through them briefly, dismissing certain people by tossing the folder carelessly aside.

He had his nose buried in the papers while slowly wandered into his hotel room. He settled on his couch, still passing over the people of his past.

It had been ages since he had caught up on anyone's lives, even Watari who was with him at all times.

Apparently a boy named Miroh had been in Italy. A woman -now a man- had moved back to America and worked on discrimination issues.

A lot of these people came across as happy, or at least content, with their current occupation or destination.

There was not a single one located in Tokyo at the moment. That they knew of.

No person that he had files requested form seemed fit, in his eyes, to be this 'Dice' character.

A ringing pulled L from his thoughts. The simple phone was still on the spot where he had left it the night before. He answered without speaking.

"L, hello again."

"Dice, pleasure, as always."

"You found my toys! Do you like them?"

"What do you want with me."

"What I want?" The heavily edited voice repeated after him, "I'd like a friend to play with. I'm awful lonely, L."

"Why don't you just tell me your name now," L suggested, "I'll figure out who you are soon anyway."

"Ah, but isn't the fun in the chase? And you're doing _so_ good," Dice taunted him.

"Very well. See you soon."

L was the one who hung up this time, not wanting to waste more time on talking. He would figure this out.

He fished the two dice from his pocket. The ivory looked old and scratched, the black eyes faded. The dice were well used. L threw them on his desk, watching as they, again, landed on a 3 and 1.

_that's 4 total, twice now._

He remembered the crudely drawn dice also showed a total of 4 eyes, only with a throw of 2 and 2. The number 4 must be significant. Perhaps it merely referred to 'D', the fourth letter of the alphabet. Or nothing at all, and they were just trying to throw him off course.

But why take the effort to either locate or craft dice that were loaded, if the meaning of the numbers rolled wouldn't have a meaning anyway?

Maybe the four numbers were supposed to be seen separately, as 2, 2, 1, 3. A code, or birthday, maybe?

There was no 22nd or 13th month, so then the order of the numbers received would have to be different. December 23rd.

L found the files, and looked with birthdays that fell in December. He didn't find a match.

So it couldn't be a birthday then. Perhaps just a memorable date? No Wammy House occupants had entered or left the house on that date.

L discarded the dice for a minute to get himself some coffee and a pastry. A small break would do him good, hopefully.

Quickly he sat back down on his spot, hot mug in hand. He stared at the two ivory cubes as if they had personally offended him. In the distance he heard Watari excuse himself, and that he would be back in a few hours. That was fine, L had more than enough to think about.

The chase was the fun part, apparently. So this person really did want L outside of his room. But if they had been around him yesterday or today, witnesses or not, they could have easily killed him if they so desired.

It really was about the chase. Okay. That could be arranged.

L vowed to himself that, before the day was over he would have figured out who this person was. It would be a nice project on the side, a little break from Kira.

The Kira case had been slowed down a little bit yesterday. The head chief of police had suffered a stress-related heart attack, and most of the men were visiting him. L felt that a quick and easy distraction like this would hold him up until the task force returned.

Dice and him had only spoken for a little while, exchanging short sentences and ineffective taunts.

Most of what made up the conversation was being 'lonely', wanting to play with someone. They did want to be found. But no real hints were given, besides the dice.

He flipped through the files again, looking for numbers that corresponded with the ones provided.

His eye caught on one file showed an extra date; a death date. It didn't match with what he was looking for, but maybe someone else's might have.

He went back to the original list of all the Wammy children, and found one girl that passed away the 23rd of december, three years ago. Her record showed she had a japanese father, and a british mother, both deceased and never married.

The father had been buried in Tokyo, a cemetery named Yanaka. It was not far from here. Perhaps it would be worth checking it out. Maybe Dice had decided to leave another clue at his grave.

Dice wanted L to remember, and sent him to a grave of a man that was possibly related to a girl from Wammy that had also died. Dice wasn't either of these people, but could be from the same family? Did Dice just want L to remember a deceased person?

L would have to go and see in person.

It was all about the chase, after all.


	3. Chapter 3

L ignored the spring rain and waited patiently for a cab to take him to the cemetery. A red and yellow cab pulled up within three minutes. The waiting time for transportation into town was never long at a hotel.

The car smelled of moldy vegetables and cigarettes. Not a very pleasant odor. L almost regretted not waiting for Watari to return. But his curiosity was greater than his disdain for foul odors.

"Yanaka Cemetery, quickly please." L instructed the driver. The man didn't say anything, but started the car and drove off, turning on the radio.

Besides the driver's horrible out of tune humming along with the music the ride was short and uneventful. L watched the buildings give way for tall beautiful cherry trees, and eventually a white iron fence and gate. The rain had made place for a light sun, and the sky was clear again.

"Wait for me here," L reminded the man, and quickly exited the car, "And open a window."

The door slammed shut behind the detective, and he just stood to admire the view for a few seconds.

The gates were opened to visitors, and L could see from outside that the tombs were elaborately decorated, and the area well kept.

There were over 7000 graves in this location alone he read from the plaque at the gate.

It was cherry blossom season, and the flowers had already fallen on the paths and rows between the stones. There were people of all ages, some carrying flowers, some just here to see the cherry trees.

L had found the location of the tomb he was looking for at a register that was provided near the entrance. It wasn't difficult to find, located just off the main blossom path.

The stone didn't look familiar, but there were fresh flowers and the remains of incense. Dice had been here, judging by the ivory cube resting on the stone.

Hotaka Datori.

This was the father of the girl from Wammy house.

L didn't linger at the tomb. He briskly walked out of the cemetery, not minding his surroundings.

The cab was still waiting for him, but L didn't really care about the smell this time. It wasn't so bad now anyway.

"Back to my hotel."

"Say please," Someone that was definitely not his former driver demanded coyly.

L's head shot up from his hunched over position. He hadn't cared about the state of the backseat and put his feet on the seat as he sat down in his crouch. Their face was shielded by the hood on a jacket. There were two fluffy dice dangling from the rear-view mirror.

The person behind the drivers seat looked over their shoulder, and met L's eyes, grinning broadly. As soon as the detective moved they pushed open their door and ran from the car. L followed quickly, back into Yanaka Cemetery.

L had trouble keeping an eye on his chase through the crowd. Both of them were pushing people aside, trying to outrun the other. When they neared the end of the main street the suspected Dice took a sharp left, towards the tomb L just visited. It caused Dice to lose speed, and L was able to gain some ground.

The detective managed to jump and tackle his suspect, grabbing at the knees. As soon as they were down L slammed his hand on Dice's back, keeping him down.

Or her.

The hood had fallen back in the chase, revealing bleached hair tied back in a braid.

"Who are you," L was breathing hard, but calming down quickly. The girl he captured was still trying to draw a steady breath.

"Don't play so rough," She wheezed, not sounding nearly as intimidating as she wished.

L didn't say anything, but reached for the cellphone in his pocket with his free hand and called Watari, informing him that he needed immediate pickup. Not five minutes later he had managed to get a suddenly really cooperative woman outside the cemetery and into the black car Watari had provided. She was willingly blindfolded and cuffed, making rude juvenile jokes about it the entire time. L briefly considered gagging her, too.

An hour later L was sitting across from the girl, on his favorite couch, in silence. It had seemed the only thing coming out of her mouth were vulgar jokes, or innuendos.

"You're Dice." L broke the silence.

"Why do you think that?" She asked innocently, flipping her now loose hair over her shoulder.

"Multiple reasons. First, you share family with Datori where a delivery for two loaded playing dice, currently in my possession, was made earlier. Second, you were in a vehicle that you entered without permission, accompanied by a set of dice. Thirdly, this phone was found on your person." L held up a simple phone between two fingers. He flipped it open and called the only number on it. A few seconds later, the phone L had received the day before started ringing.

Silence.

L sat on his couch, hung up the phone and put it away. He didn't say anything, but waited for the girl to talk. Hopefully in a normal manner.

"I did not enter without permission."

"Excuse me?"

"The car," She explained. "I only play with consent."

"That does not excuse you from stalking me. Now," L carried on, "I want to know what your 'remember' reference is about."

"You've already visited her. That's all I wanted."

"Who?"

"My sister, Mai. You've seen her at the family grave."

"Her name wasn't on there."

"No, I cant afford to have the tomb corrected yet. It's quite pricey, you know."

"Is that why you're here, to collect money?"

"I'm here because I wanted you to see my sister. I've heard a lot about you, L. She was really impressed by you."

"Your sister," L grabbed the file he had on her, "Mai Datori, passed away three years ago, aged 18. She was a Wammy resident, from the age of 4 to 15. After that she found a relative of age -you- with which she would be able to live."

Dice didn't say anything, but kicked off her shoes and tucked her legs underneath her.

"You both hold Japanese citizenship thanks to your shared father, Hotaka Datori . Now I understand you have different mothers. Mai's mother was English, your mother is Dutch, where is she?"

"In Curaçao."

"For what reason?"

"Married an army man that was on duty there."

"She knows that you are here?"

"Probably."

"Please cooperate. Let's talk more about your sister. I do know who she is, I remember the day she arrived. Back then Wammy didn't focus on intellect alone, but extraordinary abilities in every field," L paused to wait for a reaction from Dice. When none came, he carried on, "Her ability was that she could talk anyone into doing anything for her."

"I know. I did enjoy our daily power struggle when I was her official guardian."

"It didn't trouble you?"

Dice smirked at the detective, "Let's just say I can resist her temptation particularly well."

"Oh? Please, elaborate. A lot of stressed teachers would love to know your secret."

"We are siblings, after all. I might not be able to make people do whatever I want, but it's close enough."

L leaned forward, eager to hear now that she was opening up.

"For example," Dice leaned forward too, matching L's position, knees drawn to her chin, "I can tell that the stress from the past couple of days,weeks maybe even, is finally starting to get to you. I also know that you have no actual interest in hurting me, earlier at the cemetery, or right now, that you probably need a good lay, and that you are surprisingly dependent on your manservant over here," She pointed her thumb at Watari over her shoulder.

So that's why she didn't struggle walking back to the car. L ignored the vulgar comment and continued to question her, "So you know a person when you meet with them?"

"Sort of," Dice shrugged, "The longer I draw out a conversation, the more info I somehow gather. Little secrets, lies they've told, bad habits they secretly like," She winked at L, who had his thumb pressed against his teeth and was staring at her intently.

"Is that how you found me? But we never spoke face to face."

"I actually also don't know how to explain that," Dice admitted, "I've decided that it was because my sister spoke of you often, and we tried to keep up on your cases over the years. I feel like I've gotten to know you a little bit, in a way."

"Are you able to control your ability?"

"To a certain extent. It's all about how good people are at hiding secrets for _themselves_, I think. If someone feels really guilty about a thing they did I am bound to pick it up. If they couldn't care less then I probably won't be able to notice."

"Almost the opposite of your sister. Instead planting ideas in people their heads you pick them out," L remarked.

"I guess," Dice nodded, looking pleased, "Something like that."

"Then now explain why you want me to remember Mai."

Dice got more comfortable and leaned back into the couch and extended her legs. She tried to put her feet on L's lap, laughing when he tried to shuffle away from her feet looking quite disgusted.

"What, you don't like feet?"

"I do not," L said, staring down trying really hard not to come into contact with the wiggling toes.

"Alright, alright. Anything else I should know about you?" Dice mercifully retracted her feet and tucked them away again.

"Nothing that you won't find out for yourself," L muttered, relaxing a bit.

She laughed, "That's the spirit!"

"Your sister?" He reminded her.

"Right. Well, you know her gift. She was able to make people miserable, or happy, or anything. Except herself. The fact that she manipulated almost everyone around her as a habit really put a strain on her individuality. With me she could be herself truly, because I saw her coming ahead of time. The two of us end up in a loop, so we can't do anything to each other. Comes in quite handy from time to time."

Watari came by and placed a plate of cake and grapes on the desk without saying anything, and disappeared from sight again.

Dice grinned, took a bunch of grapes and one by one popped them in her mouth.

"Feed me?" She asked sweetly, holding out the grapes for L to take.

Again, he ignored her. It seemed to be a bit harder to do when she was here in the same room with him, instead of just on the phone.

"Anyway," Dice carried on with a mouth full of fruit, "She didn't really know anyone, and no one really knew her. I do remember she was very fond of you, but you weren't of her. Shame on you," She was now eating and waving her finger at the detective simultaneously. "Why did you avoid her anyway?"

"I didn't interact with anyone of the house on a regular basis."

"Did you work a lot as a child?"

"I can not answer that question. Moving back to your sister, how can I pay respects to a person I am not familiar with?"

"All I'm asking is that you'll visit her with me sometimes. I'll be in Tokyo permanently, most likely." Dice was hanging over the arm rest now, checking out the room.

"Yes, you will most definitely be staying."

"Yeah, that's what I said?" She lazily turned back to look at L.

"Here, I mean. In this building."

Dice didn't really seem bothered. It appeared that she honestly didn't care.

"Cool. That saves me rent," Was all she said.

"You're not bothered?"

"What have I been trying to explaining to you for the past ten minutes?"

L sat for a few seconds, not moving, watching as Dice made a move for his cake.

"You saw it coming. You knew I would make you stay," L quickly stepped forward and saved his cake from the hungry woman.

"And here I was thinking you had gotten to the top all because of your good looks."

"Then I suppose you can find your room all by you as well," L was kind of upset that she had to remind him of her ability. Usually he was very good at looking ahead, and guessing the consequences of his actions.

"I'm good, but not that good," Dice stood up and held out her hand for L to take, "Though of course people have told me differently on occasion,"She winked.

L didn't take her hand but did get up. Dice didn't seem to care that he ignored her, and followed him around, asking him if he was up all night alone because of lady troubles.

"Really, those eyes suggest otherwise," She mumbled, when L insisted that he most certainly have 'lady troubles'.

"So you're doing fine then? No need for me to take you out clubbing, meet some people?" She teased the man.

"I have never gone clubbing, and I never will," L said in a monotone voice.

"Man, that word sounds weird coming from your mouth," Dice winced a little bit.

They were out in the hallway of the hotel now. L told Dice about the hotels that they rented, usually the entire floor, if there was more than one room. Lucky for Dice there was an extra sleeping space. She would be locked inside the room and observed the following few days.

Flipping the light on, L entered the still unused room, his companion falling a bit behind. She lingered in the doorway, not really entering the room.

"Eh," She started nervously, "I don't really want to be making demands here, but do you have a laptop, or music player, even a radio I can borrow for the night? Some playing cards?"

L tilted his head curiously and stared at her, "Why would I give you a laptop? You're still under surveillance. No laptop, cards, or radio."

Dice didn't say anything and nodded harshly, lips pressed tight together.

L pushed past her, making sure she was completely inside before he closed the door and locked her in.

A minute later he was sitting on his couch again, alone this time, observing the monitors that connected to the cameras in her room.

Dice was still standing in the exact same spot he had left her. Her head slowly tilted from side to side, carefully inspecting her new environment. L wasn't really sure why she had not moved yet. The rooms he was able to afford should be more than comfortable.

After a couple of minutes of standing around Dice gently moved one leg in front of the other. Barely a step, more like a shuffle. It appeared something scared her.

She slowly edged towards the only door, to the bathroom, and peeked inside. After declaring an all clear she relaxed a little. The stepped into the bedroom a little more confidently now, closing the bathroom door behind her.

It was already dark outside, but the curtains were still tied up neatly on the sides of the window. The large windows reflected the entire inside of the room.

Dice avoided looking at the windows at all costs. Was she maybe afraid of the dark, or the reflection itself?

L watched as she hurriedly drew the curtains shut. Only after that she stepped on the large bed, walking over it until she reached the headboard. She kicked the covers aside, still glancing around, and tucked herself in.

And there she sat, just looking, doing nothing.

A couple hours later L managed to get some work done on the Kira case, making sure to keep an eye on Dice the entire time.

Eventually she found a book, of religious practice no doubt, in the dresser. She flipped through it for a little while, then ripped out one of the pages.

L watched at she folded it into a square, then diagonally again. The girl folded for about three minutes, after which she produced a bird. She placed it on her desk, but didn't make another one.

Not much longer after that she turned onto her side in an apparent attempt to sleep. But she didn't look comfortable at all.

L would have to talk about that tomorrow. Now, he needed to pay some attention some more important things.


End file.
